Craft on Craft

Not much of my interview with Aaron Craft made it into my story on Craft yesterday, so I figured you might like to read what he had to say in response to the questions I posed:

Question: How does it make you feel when a 7-year-old from Florida wants to come up here and meet you?

Craft: It’s crazy. He could have done a lot of things but he wanted to come up here and watch the Buckeyes. I’m just glad that we were able to find a way to win that game (against Minnesota) for him and to spend time with him before the game. It means a lot for him, but I think it shows a bigger picture to the guys on the team, too.

Q: You were chased down by a girls volleyball team? That’s kind of Bieber-like. Wildest thing that ever happened to you from fans?)

A: It happened last summer. It’s up there. They just walked quickly because someone on the team had seen me and went and told the rest of the team, and (former roommate Luke Roberts) and I had just kept walking. They wanted a picture, so we gladly gave it to them.

It’s weird.

Q: On campus?

A: Yeah. They had been at a tournament or something. We talked to them for a little bit, took a picture.

. . . Things happen. People point and stare. It is what it is. It happens to all the guys. I’m lucky, I can blend in a little bit being a normal height. I can put on a pair of jeans and put on a non-Ohio State T-shirt and look pretty normal. If you’re 6-7 or 6-11, it’s tough. You stick out pretty easily.

Q: In high school, you were the point guard and quarterback. Were you also the homecoming king and class president?

A: Nope. I was none of that. It was different (in high school). I went to a smaller school so everyone kind of knows each other. I graduated with 111 people and I can honestly say I knew all 111. I could talk with all of them if I needed to. It was a close-knit community that really rallied around sports.

Q: Buckeye Nation a little different?

A: It’s way different here. I can go home and if I’m around people I grew up with, I’m just Aaron. It’s no big thing.

Q: With all the awards and recognition, have you ever had a problem staying humble? Who keeps you in check?

A: It’s always tough, especially being here. It’s very easy to think very highly of yourself.

It starts with my parents and the way they raised me. That’s one thing they really tried to instill in me growing up, especially when I was a little better than the other guys, (to have) an understanding of getting the other guys involved and that you might be better at this but they could be better at something else. Just embrace the team aspect of it. That came from my parents.

Now it comes from my roommates or it comes from Amber (Petersen, his fiancee). My teammates, too. I’ve been able to have a lot of great people around me to keep my mind where it’s supposed to be.

Q: Your teammates bust on you for what?

A: Anything and everything. What people yell (at me), what people say. It’s all in fun, though. That’s the best part of being teammates. They experience everything. I can jeer at them and they can joke back.

Q: You remember the funniest thing one of the fan sections ever said to you?

A: I can. There’s a couple that stick out. But I don’t like giving them that much credit. I don’t want them to feel like they did a good job because then they’d get excited about it.

Q: Did you ever talk to anybody, like Archie Griffin, about handling popularity at a place like Ohio State?

A: That’s one of the better parts (of being at Ohio State), I can walk around with someone who’s more (famous) and I fade back into the shadows. Being able to be around guys like (Archie) and former president (E. Gordon) Gee.

But the biggest person that kind of had an influence on that was hanging out with Jon (Diebler) my freshman year and seeing how he handled everything and what he did when he went out and what he did when people recognized him. He was always very gracious about it, very humble about it. That kind of laid the foundation with me and showed me how to live and be an athlete here at Ohio State.

Q: Mel Nowell said he thinks you’re the most admired Ohio State basketball player since John Havlicek. Have you ever seen video of Havlicek play?

A: I haven’t. I wish.

Q: Nowell said Havlicek’s popularity was for the same reason as yours, because he found that extra gear when no one thought he had it He played the way you play. Did you ever talk to Havlicek?

A: I haven’t. That’s on my bucket list. I like to think of myself as a student of the game, but my Ohio State basketball history isn’t the greatest. I didn’t grow up watching those guys or hearing stories about them until I got here. Then you understand what it takes to be a part of the program and you want to see what it was like for them back then, especially since they were the last ones to win the big one for us.

Q: You’re not on Twitter. You do get on Facebook some. With all you have going on, do you ever have time to just sit around and vegetate? Can you go out to dinner with Amber or your roommates and be left alone by fans?

A: Yeah. I have a lot of free time now because it’s my last semester (two classes and an internship). Even my roommates have noticed. I’m around the apartment more. And when I am around the apartment, I have more time to just sit there.

Which probably isn’t the best thing. I should find something better to do with my time. That’s been an ongoing process through this semester, just trying to figure out when I can do work early (in the gym, so) I don’t have to wait until the last minute.

You just want to live a normal life. There’s been very, very few times when we’ve sat down and said, ‘All right, we can’t go to this place because this is going to happen.’ We just go and expect the best, and if something happens, we just kind of deal with it and roll with it. If we want to go to a movie, we’ll go.

Q: If you don’t make an NBA team next season, will you go overseas to play or enroll in medical school and get on with your life?

A: I don’t know. I really don’t. I’ve done my best to set myself up with many opportunities when I leave here, and . . . I’m just trying to enjoy the last couple months. Then I’m going to get kicked out and I’ve got to start living on my own.

I’ve obviously thought about it, weighed it and talked to Amber about it. But there’s a lot of things that could happen, so instead of worry and try to plan for all those (eventualities), we’ve just kind of decided to let it go and when we come to it, we’ll cross those bridges.

Q: Did you have or do you have a chance to be a Rhodes scholar?

A: We looked at it, and if you’ve seen the people that go for that and look at what they do and their credentials . . . I was overwhelmed by what they do. You could tell it was a passion of theirs. That was something they sought out and wanted to do with their life.

I think I looked at it, one, because it was expected, and two, because it’d be kind of cool. But you can’t go into something like that with that mindset, and when we atarted trying to get the ball rolling and I saw that . . . I don’t think I have the passion to do what those guys want to do. People are creating apps and making houses. It was amazing, the resumes that these people had. I don’t think I could stack up with that. It was amazing. It was real. I was shocked.

Q: You couldn’t stack up? You’re a three-time first-team Academic All-American with a 3.93 grade-point average in pre-med?

A: I didn’t feel a big drive and passion to go after it, and you can’t go into something like that without it because you’re over there for two years and studying something more intensely than you’ve ever studied anything in your life. Finding something you want to study for for two years like that, and being able to think five or 10 years down the road, what can I do with this? I wasn’t ready for that.

Q: Do you want to be a doctor?

A: I would love to be, eventually.

Q: What kind?

A: No idea.

Q: What are you doing for your internship?

A: I’m with Sarah Wick, the football dietician, working on training tables, breakfast clubs, things like that. She also comes over and helps with our training table. Just talking to guys about what they eat and things like that pre- and post-game, pre- and post-practice. Just trying to get a feel for (nutrition) outside the classroom.

Q: What have you gotten out of your four years at Ohio State?

A: It’s been the time of my life. Ohio State has given me more than I could have imagined. Every year, it just kept coming and kept coming, and I think the longer you’re here, the more you realize how little you give to the university and how much it gives back to you in comparison. It’s just helped me grow as a person, whether it’s being around coach Matta and the coaching staff for four years, seeing them work day after day after day, and seeing their passion and love for what they do, and wanting to find that for myself later on down the road. And enjoying the time. I’ve loved my time with my roommates. I wouldn’t trade the time I’ve had here for anything.